A trance music piece made up of repeating 4/4 cells in which an absolutely steady eighth-note motion predominates. Often several cells are going on simultaneously, and one cell frequently mutates into another through the a... more &raquoddition or subtraction of a note or two. One has to step back far enough to get a perspective on the large-scale shifts in density and tonality before the impact of An Hour for Piano can be felt. Frederic Rzewski plays very percussively throughout, giving the piece an intense forward motion. Disc package includes Tom Johnson‚??s original "Program Notes to be read while hearing An Hour for Piano" plus a new appreciation, "An Hour of Tom Johnson", by Kenneth Goldsmith..&laquo less

Synopsis

Album Description

A trance music piece made up of repeating 4/4 cells in which an absolutely steady eighth-note motion predominates. Often several cells are going on simultaneously, and one cell frequently mutates into another through the addition or subtraction of a note or two. One has to step back far enough to get a perspective on the large-scale shifts in density and tonality before the impact of An Hour for Piano can be felt. Frederic Rzewski plays very percussively throughout, giving the piece an intense forward motion. Disc package includes Tom Johnsonâ??s original "Program Notes to be read while hearing An Hour for Piano" plus a new appreciation, "An Hour of Tom Johnson", by Kenneth Goldsmith..

CD Reviews

Neglected minimalist,Do you use that term still?

scarecrow | Chicago, Illinois United States | 02/28/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"You many know Tom Johnson as writer at the Village Voice,New York in the Seventies and Eighties until he moved to Paris. He has alsways been fascinated by the "numbers" dimension to minimalist gestures, citing Pascal, numeric schmes, triangles that promuligate, that sequence intervals forward. His "One-Note Opera" perhaps is his most widely known work,played countless times in Europe, a few times here in the USA. Rzewski it seems whatever he plays is always light years beyond the music, he can put his improvisatory skills away when asked to do so, Here he gets an electric like sound, deeply immediate, forceful, always on top of the timbre, not allowing the piece to stagnate,as a performer you should know where the weak elements occur. Johnson as well you can sense knew the late piano music of Feldman, the "Triadic Memories", the "Piano" a mere 20 minutes.For Johnson collects his tones with some direction for one hour."

What scarecrow said

leo | Beijing, China | 04/22/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"not much more to add... except to my ears this is somewhere between the ascetic / rigorous and lush / beautiful schools of "new minimalism". a delicate yet persistant energy... awesome."